As opposed to those who drank too much during the celebratory dinner of Qinhuai's Riverbank, the production team of The Ultimate Battle was much quieter.

They had a good hand to begin with but ended up losing everything that they had.

A box office of 500 million yuan was not shabby, but the negative impact on their reputation was precarious.

After all, actors and actresses depended on their work and their awards. Take Shen Weiyin for example, her company and her team counted on her to win the title of film empress from her work on this movie.

Looking around the entertainment circle, not very many could compete with Shen Weiyin. She had more or less secured the film empress title for herself.

Nevertheless, with the airing of Qinhuai's Riverbank, Meng Jie certainly posed a big threat to Shen Weiyin. Meng Jie was charming in her cheongsam, and her acting in each look and smile of hers was excellent.

Shen Weiyin’s team analyzed her situation fully. When the movies were aired at the same time, she and Meng Jie would be certainly competing against each other for the award next year. Unless, for whatever reasons, Qinhuai's Riverbank’s production team opted out of participating in next year’s film festival.

That was, of course, impossible.

Shen Weiyin smoked one cigarette after another. Her path to stardom had been smooth sailing the last few years, and it was rare that she was at loss.

She had been in the entertainment circle for almost 10 years, and she felt unreconciled.

Unreconciled about losing to Ye Zhen.

“I want to take the title of film empress next year.”

Lu Shaoyan said jokingly from the other end of the cellphone, “You want to be the film empress? That’s not a problem. As I have mentioned before, you just need to help me convince Old Mr. Shen.”

Shen Weiyin was quiet.

She knew what Lu Shaoyan meant by that.

“I have evidence of the crimes that Lu Beichuan had committed. This evidence is enough to make Lu Beichuan lose everything. I can only help you worry-free if the Lu family has gone belly up, don’t you think? That being said, if you can’t pull the trigger on Lu Beichuan still, then forget that I had mentioned it.”

Shen Weiyin’s fists tightened.

“Miss Shen, I need Old Mr. Shen to back me. After all, I am just a nameless and faceless one. I do not have the fame and status like Old Mr. Shen does. It would draw much more attention if he was the one who turns in that evidence instead of me. I will gain control of the Lu Corporation then, and you will have nothing else to worry about, Miss Shen.”

“But… I don’t want Lu Beichuan to…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t really send him to jail. I am his uncle and I wouldn’t just let someone from my family go to jail. I just want to take over the Lu Corporation. That's all.”

Shen Weiyin’s throat tightened, “Do you mean what you’ve said?”

“Why would I lie to you?” said Lu Shaoyan as he sighed. “You worry so much for Lu Beichuan but what about him? Was he ever considerate toward you?”

Thinking about how Lu Beichuan had, time and again, embarrassed her, Shen Weiyin gritted her teeth and said, “Okay, I’ll do it. I will go convince my grandpa as long as you promise me that Lu Beichuan will not be hurt.”

“It’s nice working with you.” After Lu Shaoyan had gotten off the phone, Lin Zhan looked at him and asked, “Why did you lie to her?”

Toying with his cellphone, Lu Shaoyan smiled and said, “Lu Beichuan goes to jail; you get the beauty. Isn’t that just perfect?”

Lin Zhan looked away from him. He looked both determined and profound. He uttered not a word.

Ever since Lin Zhan had been recognized by Old Master Lu, his business had gone well with the help of his grandfather and the others.

Gone were the days when others gossiped about his unknown background or were rude to him all the time. Most of the time he was praised as being young and destined for great things.

Over the last two years, his achievement had already surpassed many of his generation. He had fame, power, status, and money. It seemed he had everything that he would ever want. Lin Zhan, however, knew better than anyone else that his days were busy but unfulfilled. There was a missing piece inside of him. His days in the last two years were much better than what they had been in the previous two years, yet he was still unhappy.

Days crawled by like years to him.

Lu Shaoyan had asked him before why he didn’t get a woman? He pointed at those under the flashing lights. He can take any unmarried ones with him to a hotel room upstairs. Even married ones, should that be what he desired.

Lu Shaoyan had whispered into his ear, "As long as you don’t get caught."

Lin Zhan was well aware that Lu Shaoyan wasn’t one with a strong sense of morals.

But he didn’t react to that.

As far as he was concerned, all women under their shiny appearances were boring.

A sweeping statement, indeed, but Lin Zhan no longer had the patience to get to know them.

“You really think you can obtain evidence against Lu Beichuan so easily? Are you sure you can bring him down?” Lin Zhan had never crossed paths with Lu Beichuan in business, but he had heard a lot about Lu Beichuan from the elders and learned of many incidents in the past.

He was one who would always plan steps ahead even when he was young. As such, how would he make such simple mistakes of letting others collect evidence against him after all these years?

Something didn’t add up here.

Lin Zhan felt that Lu Shaoyan underestimated Lu Beichuan too much.

Lu Shaoyan, on the other hand, was very confident about the evidence that he had on hand. He made it seemed like the Lu Corporation would become his the moment he exposed the evidence that he possessed.

Lin Zhan toyed with the glowing colorful little ball in his hand. As though he had put all of his focus on playing with the ball, he did not bother giving Lin Zhan a whole spiel to convince him. He merely said to him, “Just you wait.”

Okay, he could certainly wait and see, thought Lin Zhan to himself.

And, if Lin Zhan was right and Lu Beichuan was brought down, what would happen to Ye Zhen?

A lively image flashed past Lin Zhan’s mind.

Even though he hadn’t seen Ye Zhen for a long time, her image stayed with him.

Lin Zhan did not truly think that Lu Shaoyan stood a chance against Lu Beichuan. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but imagine what would happen to Ye Zhen in the event that Lu Beichuan was brought down.

Lu Beichuan and Ye Zhen had a cute child and a happy family. He didn’t want to see the two of them being lovey dovey together and definitely would not want to hear the child calling them Daddy and Mommy. As such, he had never met up with Lu Beichuan even after Old Master Lu had recognized him.

Ye Zhen would probably wait for Lu Beichuan even if he was destitute or if he went to jail.

If he was sentenced to 10 years in jail, she would wait 10 years for him. If he was sentenced to 20 years in jail, then she would wait 20 years for him.

She would spend her entire life waiting for him.

Lin Zhan sighed deeply to himself.

He wished that Ye Zhen was a fickle person. Preferably more heartless. That way he would have the reasons and excuses for her to leave Lu Beichuan. No, if she was truly that kind of a person, she would leave Lu Beichuan on her own. He wouldn’t even need to do anything.

But Ye Zhen was a kind and stubborn person. She would not give up on Lu Beichuan even if he was in jail.

Lin Zhan lowered his eyes and smiled bitterly. Fantasies.

These were nothing more than just fantasies of his.

Standing up, Lu Shaoyan seemed to have seen through his silence. He patted him on his shoulder, smiled, and said, “Lin Zhan, you have everything you ever wanted now. It’s okay to become a little more ambitious. You are young and promising and every bit as good as Lu Beichuan.”

Lin Zhan stiffened. He gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Lu Shaoyan didn’t say much more. He left the office with the colorful ball in his hand.

-- As he had received a text from Shen Weiyin.

In less than 5 minutes.

Shen Weiyin’s ambitions and urgency could be seen from that.

That made Lu Shaoyan excited. He couldn’t wait any longer to see the crumbling of Lu Corporation as well as… the downfall of Shen Corporation.

***

The joint force between Lu Shaoyan and the Shen Corporation didn’t seem to have any effect on Lu Beichuan at all. Lu Beichuan was still able to find time to accompany Ye Zhen to the news conference after Qinhuai's Riverbank’s huge success.

Chaoxun Entertainment was now considered to have officially entered the entertainment circle. The success of Qinhuai's Riverbank had, doubtless, given Chaoxun Entertainment what they needed to stand their ground in the entertainment circle.

As such, many stars’ agents started reaching out to Chaoxun Entertainment.

After all, Chaoxun Entertainment did not have a lot of stars under their wing and the Lu Corporation’s determination to break into the entertainment circle was there for all to see. They would for certain invest heavily into Chaoxun Entertainment in the future. In this highly competitive field, who wouldn’t want to join them?

When asked by the reporters whether they were negotiating with any stars, Lu Beichuan bluntly said that he had handed Chaoxun Entertainment over to Ye Zhen and she would be taking care of all matters related to it. He would not meddle or be concerned over these minor issues.

Everybody made a mental note of that. Naturally, as did Ye Zhen. As such, the first thing she did when she got back to the office was to have Qin Zhiyin bring her all of the information on the stars.

There was a big stack of them. It included many little fresh meats who had just debuted, actors and actresses who had debuted a while ago and had already earned a little fame for themselves, and also stars who had debuted a long time ago but were still unheard of. All of them were interested in Chaoxun Entertainment.

Qin Zhiyin didn’t wait for her to finish going through the stack before she smiled and said, “Truth is, there is one more who wanted to sign with us.”

“Oh? Who?” asked Ye Zhen casually as she flipped through the stack of papers.

“Miss Meng Jie.”

Ye Zhen looked up, “Her?”

“Yes. Her contract is up and she reached out to me yesterday.”

“What’s your thoughts on that?”

Qin Zhiyin smiled and said, “Miss Meng had been blocked for 4 years but her achievement four years ago was unrivaled. Her fame has gone back up a little after the airing of the movie. Over time, Miss Meng will be able to rebuild her glory back to where it was but…”

“You Jing?”

Qin Zhiyin nodded. “Exactly. You Jing reached out to us as well and asked us to stay out of Meng Jie’s business.”

Ye Zhen snickered. “We are signing her!”

Qin Zhiyin was hesitant about it.

Ye Zhen understood her hesitation. She didn’t think that it was worth offending You Jing and the You Corporation behind him over Meng Jie.

“Don’t you worry. You Jing already had beef with me when I had Meng Jie be the spokesperson of our products and be the female lead in our movie. As such, what’s adding more fuel to the fire? Besides, I don’t think the Lu Corporation needs to worry about the You Corporation.”

Hearing that, Qin Zhiyin let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “Okay, I will go take care of this right away.”

“Wait…” Ye Zhen set aside the stack of information on all the stars and said in a low voice, “Our company for certain can use these backbones in the entertainment industry but we shall not overlook the new generation as well. We are, after all, an entertainment company and it is our responsibility to bring in new blood into the entertainment circle. Why don’t we do this? Pick some talented boys and girls that have attractive appearances and positive images, train them, and have them from a boy group and a girl group. You get what I am saying?”

This type of group was very common overseas but not so much domestically.

Qin Zhiyin nodded. “Okay, I get it. I will have a proposal to you shortly.”

Ye Zhen smiled.

How should she put it? Everybody likes what is pretty.

As Lu Beichuan had handed the authority over to her, there was nothing wrong with finding herself some eye candy with said authority, right?

Besides, boy and girl groups might be rare in China, but if they did it right, they too could become the backbone of the company.

(T/N: Boy groups and girl groups are common in China. Not sure what the author is talking about.)